Legal Advice

All divorces are dealt with either in the High Court or in the Regional Divorce Court; which courts have been specifically created to assist the High Court in dealing with divorce matters. There is a High Court in each major city; and various Regional Divorce Courts in each Region of each province.

One needs to be very careful about how retirement benefits are divided between spouses at the time of a divorce. Many people including their own attorneys get it wrong and leave non-member spouses, in particular, financially vulnerable as a result. And some of those getting it wrong are the so-called experts including divorce lawyers and retirement fund trustees and advisors.

It is a sad fact of life that many of our marriages end up in a divorce; and as the statistics imply that up to two-thirds of all marriages, depending on where you live and into what social bracket you fall, end in a divorce; it is advisable to know your rights.

A divorce order should cover the dissolution of the marriage, custody, guardianship and care of children, maintenance for the spouse (if applicable) and the division of/or be awarding of assets and liabilities acquired before, during and at the end of the marriage relationship.

Legal advice and legal and paralegal services; on all aspects of family law such as divorce, maintenance, custody. access to children; adoption, parenting plans, separation agreements, and general legal advice

We get asked both telephonically and by e-mail a number of questions on Labour Law which come up time and time again and so we thought we would just answer certain of these questions in this short blog so that the answers are there for all to see.

Sometimes it is a lot of money owed to a bank like for example the bond on our house or the car that we bought for ourselves or the family.

At other times it is a smaller amounts owed on a credit card or on one or more clothing accounts etc.

All debt and the repayment of debt is however important and we should not underestimate the role it plays in all of our lives. As we know; credit providers including banks, financial institutions, clothing shops and other retailers provide information on our debt levels and our record of repaying that debt to the various credit record companies like ITC, Experian etc; and it is these records that give other retailers an indication of your credit health. They do research before they decide whether or not to lend you money or allow you to open another account. Your credit health and record are vitally important to your everyday life and financial well-being. It is to your advantage to look after your credit health.

The Legal Advice Office offers affordable Legal Advice as well as Legal and Paralegal Services throughout South Africa.

Our legal advice and services are based on 40 years of experience in the professional legal field. As a purely internet based legal consultancy business, we pride ourselves in personal, professional and efficient service at affordable rates and undertake to revert to our clients within 48 hours of their query being received by us

What do you do if you purchase a defective motor vehicle from a new or second hand vehicle? How does the Consumer Protection Act No 68 of 2008 (CPA) and the common law protect you? What do you need to do and what are the guidelines in this situation?

Because of the number of queries we receive on a weekly basis from our clients with regard to damaged and defective vehicle that they have bought; we are once again going to look at what to do in the situation where you have bought a “lemon” from a motor vehicle dealer.

Be very circumspect when dealing with collection agencies and that includes firms of attorneys that specialise in this area of the law.

Do not believe everything that you are told by a collection agent or attorney as they will look after their own interests and those of their client; before they give a thought to you and your interests.

Anybody can draft a will. It need not be an attorney or lawyer; but only attorneys may advertise the fact that they draft wills draft people, as per the provisions of the Attorneys Act.

The full names and identity of the testator or testatrix must appear in the will and they must sign same in full as we sated in our last blog. Use your Id number and your address to properly identify yourself.

One of the services The Legal Advice Office provides to our clients, and other interested parties; is alternative dispute resolution procedures.

These procedures broadly speaking include interventions, mediation, arbitration and other dispute resolution procedures and methods to settle disputes between two parties without proceeding with a civil court action; which could cost tens of thousands of Rands; take two years to finalise; and, if you lose, you have to pay a portion of the other person’s costs.

Alternative dispute resolution is cheaper, quicker and more efficient.

Here is an example of such a situation; which we dealt with during the course of this last month.

Legal advice and legal services pertaining to all aspects of insurance law including disputes with insurance companies, the vetting and interpretation of insurance policies, the rejection of claims etc